Unfortunately, as most of you most likely know, we didn’t declare victory over Plattsburgh Friday night, or over Potsdam on Saturday. However,  I did get some footage of the game. Unfortunately, my camera broke, and I didn’t really get any footage of the actual game. There is some footage of the fans, nearly all of them dressed in white as well as footage of the Plattsburgh team throwing pucks at the window as fans chant, “Plattsburgh sucks!” There’s also some footage of my friend Danielle as she is immensely enjoying her soda. Enjoy!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GixTrNxHGdM

I can’t believe how rapidly the weather keeps changing! I have been so sick for the past couple of weeks, and the weather just won’t let me shake it. Last week, there were a couple of days that were like spring. All of the snow was gone, and it was around fifty degrees. Now, it’s back to being well below freezing with what appear to be multiple tornadoes made of snow.

Every time I complain, people always ask me, “why did you choose Oswego?” since Oswego is infamous for its relentless winters. Although choosing Oswego wasn’t exactly a “choice,” I do think that Oswego has its pros that contrast with its weatherly cons. For example, making friends is typically very easy here, since the campus is so diverse. A diverse campus increases the chance that you’re going to find a person, or better yet, a group of people, that are like you.

Oswego’s campus is also relatively accepting when it comes to differences amongst people, and it can’t be denied that that is highly beneficial to any campus setting. Besides, as far as the weather is concerned, there are also pros to that! When Oswego is not undergoing winter, it is amazingly beautiful. The lake, for example, under a setting sun in the summer time is unlike anything I have ever seen, and it’s a nice place to visit and reflect. I feel confident that I am just as happy here as I would be just about anywhere else.

Then, of course, there is the hockey team! Tonight, we play Plattsburgh, which means it’s White-Out, and of course, the weather saw it fit to correlate. A lot of students, including me, are really looking forward to this game. It will definitely be interesting! I realize now that this blog is a little scattered, but it is kind of just a collage of random thoughts thrown together.

For those of you who followed my blog entries last semester, you know that I was pushing strenuously to get into Johnson for a variety of reasons. Well, I got in. The Friday after second semester began, my hall director at Oneida told me that the Johnson hall director told her that he had a place for me here, and I moved in the following Monday. I was so happy. Johnson is my true home here, and it’s going to be very difficult having to leave it at the end of the semester.

What do I love about Johnson? At Oneida, there wasn’t as much room for me to spread my legs. I had my room, and that was it, and that wasn’t very much room. I didn’t really have the space to have my bed delofted, so the only place I had to relax, watch TV, read and chat on AIM was my desk. Here, not only is the room bigger, enabling me to have a delofted bed, but there are also other places to go. There is a lounge on each floor as well as a circular desk space outside of each lounge. If I need to stay up a little later than usual doing homework or something to that effect, I can do so without having to worry about disturbing anyone who’s trying to sleep.

As I’ve said before in an earlier blog, a majority of my friends on campus are also Johnson residents, and I was here all the time as it was. Of course, some of those friends don’t act much like friends anymore. They seem to have forgotten the main reason I pushed so hard to get in here, and it also seems as if they’ve forgotten how much they used to care. If you are one of my Johnson friends, then don’t automatically assume I’m talking about you. Chances are good that you know if you are. If we haven’t talked or hung out in a while, because you have either ignored me or lied to me, then you know who you are.

I’m not writing this blog to be cynical. I am really happy about this for the most part. It just shows that sometimes, if you set your mind to something, you can do it. I was told that the odds weren’t good, that the list of students wanting to live here was relatively long and that there wasn’t any room for me anyway, but I didn’t give up. I kept pushing, and here I am writing this blog from my Johnson dorm room. So just keep that in mind. If you really want something for whatever reason, then put your mind to it and fight for it.

The Spring Semester is finally here! The month away went by really fast, and I desperately needed it, but it’s time to hit the books once again. The other day, I didn’t feel like I was ready to come back yet. I was really enjoying my vacation to the fullest. However, now that I am back, I am really happy to be here and am confident that this semester is going to be great.

This semester, I am taking Math, which at first I was really anxious about. I have never been a very good math student. I have difficulty understanding certain aspects of it. I remember back in high school when my class was doing proofs, and no matter how many times my teacher tried explaining it to me, I simply couldn’t understand it, and I still don’t understand it. However, I think that this semester of math isn’t going to be all that bad. I know the semester just started, but I already have a full understanding of what we are doing, and I find it to be very easy. The professor said that a majority of what we do in class will not be difficult; it will just be time-consuming, and we will need to show our work for everything. Well, I don’t like the term “time-consuming” any more than the next college student, but I would rather spend a lot of time on something that I understand than receive poor grades because I don’t understand the material.

None of my other classes seem like they are going to be too strenuous either. Like I said, I am really looking forward to this semester.

A lot of you probably remember my blog only a few months ago regarding my trip to Pennsylvania to campaign for Barack Obama. Two days ago, as you all know, President-elect Obama was inaugurated as the forty-forth president of the United States, and the most of what I could feel was the same pride and joy as I felt the week that I campaigned for him, and the fateful Tuesday evening when he was elected.

The main aspect of this election and now this presidency that I find groundbreaking is the refreshed sense of pride. There are so many who seem to once again be proud to be an American, and this energy seems to be so fresh. I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to attend Obama’s Inauguration on Tuesday, but I did watch quite a bit of it on TV, and even from merely watching it on TV I could feel the high-spirited energy that radiated the streets.

It was said during the airing of the Inauguration that many of the individuals who attended the Inauguration, and even those who saw it on TV, for that matter, are so proud, because they are making history, and I found this to be a good point. Someday, those of us who were a part of this somehow are going to have a few stories for our children and for our grandchidren, because this right now, the present that we are living in, is groundbreaking history, and we made it. Yes, we did!

I feel confident that Obama is going to change America for the better and that he’s going to bring the change that we need. I am really looking forward to the next four (possibly eight) years of being an American and for once being able to confidently and wholeheartedly say that I am proud to be one.

I actually read this book over Thanksgiving break and stayed up untl 6 a.m. reading it, because I couldn’t put it down. It’s honestly just that good. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist is one of the best books I have read in a while. I haven’t read anything even close to this good since M.T. Anderson’s Feed, which was quite awhile ago.

I felt like I could relate to it on so many levels, but at the same time, coming from a masculine perspective, it was oddly blissful to me, because I saw in Norah the emodiment of what every guy wants in a girl. It’s true that I don’t like girls who enjoy playing games with guys, but Norah has genuine feeiings for Nick, and even though she does “play games” with him, we learn through the parts written through her perspective that it’s because she’s afraid, and fear is something that I think we can all understand when it comes to love.

However, back to my claim that I could relate to it, I felt that in so many ways, I am Nick, and Nick is me. I felt connected to the story, and it’s rare that I ever feel so strongly about a piece of literature. I saw the film starring Kat Dennings and Michael Cera first, and I’d quickly be the first (although I’m sure I’m not) to advise against thinking that you can skip right to the film and get the same experience from it, because you will not. I wasn’t crazy over the movie. I mean, I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t anything special, and yet, I think I’ve done quite enough here to prove that the book was indeed very special to me. The book and the movie are two different stories and two different worlds, and I strongly suggest visiting both.

This coming Sunday, I am going to Le Moyne College in Syracuse to attend a Jack’s Mannequin concert, and I am so excited! For those of you who haven’t heard of the band or have heard of them but don’t know anything about them, I’ll give you an overview.

Jack’s Mannequin sort of formed in 2004 when piano rock group Something Corporate (a band that actually played here at SUNY Oswego that same year) decided to take a break and frontman Andrew McMahon began writing music for a solo album. Needless to say, the solo project ended up becoming Jack’s Mannequin, currently having spawned singles such as “The Mixed Tape,” “Dark Blue” and “The Resolution.” In 2005, prior to the album’s release, McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia and was immediately hospitalized in New York City. This obviously delayed the release of the album as well as additional promotional work that would have otherwise went into it, and the album was finally released on August 23 of that year. What I find interesting is that this is the same day that Andrew received a stem cell transplant from his sister Katie, which would indicate that that had to have been an all-around happy day for him.

The debut, Everything in Transit, was followed up by The Glass Passenger which was released on September 30 of this year. The concert at Le Moyne is part of the Hammers and Strings tour which is in correlation to The Glass Passenger. The band will be playing music from the new album.

I became a fan (fan is probably not a sufficient word) in May of this year, when my best friend bought me a copy of Everything in Transit for my birthday. The first time I listened to it, I immediately fell in love with it, and Jack’s Mannequin pretty much immediately became my favorite band. I liked it that much. The well-written and vehement lyrics helped pull me out of a hole that I was in at the time, and the style of the music was like nothing I had ever heard before. I have actually heard people say that they don’t have their own sound and that they pretty much sound just like every other band out there, but I couldn’t possibly disagree more. If you name one singer who sounds anything like Andrew McMahon or one band that has a sound that is anything like Jack’s Mannequin, I’ll give you a cookie. I say that, because I don’t have any cookies, and I guarantee you that it’s not something I’m going to have to worry about.

Anyway, ever since May, I have been praying for a chance to see them live, and now I finally have a chance. I can’t wait for the show. Do we have any other JM fans on campus that would like to share their love for the band? I’m definitely all ears to that!